Number (N)ine

Takahiro Miyashita brought his hometown to Paris in the form of a finale of capacious coats trimmed in black feathers, like those of the crows that kick up such a racket in Tokyo. The greasy toughness of the crow is slightly at odds with the new gentleness that Miyashita was keen to communicate with his spring collection (showing in an old convent 'n' all), and that wasn't the only incongruity. There was a subtext of reconfigured militarism in the jacket with Napoleonic frogging and the soldier's caps, but the soundtrack featured lullaby versions of some of Nirvana's most aggressive numbers delicately tapped out on a xylophone, and Miyashita obligingly offered the flannelette pajamas to go with the music. Or at least that's what they looked like. The designer's affection for Kurt Cobain has been thoroughly exercised over the past few seasons. Here, the grungy knit layers of his latest presentationT-shirt over long sleeves, bondage bum-flap over leggings, droopy, worn-out bits and pieces in a palette limited to gray, black, and beigeelaborated on that affection over and over. A layered shoe/boot hybrid amped up the interest, but otherwise, one was left craving something a little more substantial, like his last spring collection, for instance. Of course, that was unseasonably heavyto his credit, Miyashita-san got the fabric weight right this time.